Instead of clipping certain portions I decided to post the letter to the MSU community in full.

To the MSU campus community:

On this second day of my second week as interim president, I think it is important to address several matters many of you have raised with me.

Everyone knows the Nassar case is an international story. As he begins serving his sentence in a federal prison in Arizona, we are all still struggling to comprehend the extent of the damage he inflicted on so many girls and young women, and on their families.

Questions about how this could have happened and what must be done to prevent it from ever happening again are the subject of multiple inquiries. At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Education is conducting a Clery program review, the U.S. Senate has requested information, and the U.S. House of Representatives has two inquiries underway. The NCAA also is seeking information from us. In Michigan, the House of Representatives is requesting production of documents and the Attorney General’s Office, at MSU’s request, is conducting an investigation.

Add to these an accreditation agency inquiry and an ongoing blizzard of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and the volume of compliance deadlines Michigan State University faces is daunting. Last week alone, we turned over data equivalent to some 45,000 pages of documents, emails, and other materials to William Forsyth, the independent special counsel who is heading the investigation for the Attorney General’s Office.

MSU is committed to cooperating with all official requests, and I’m grateful for the cooperation that faculty and staff have given the General Counsel’s office and the law firms that are assisting the university.

While the investigations are ongoing, activity in lawsuits representing well over 100 survivors continues to move forward. I’m following the progress closely as we work to return to mediation and, I fervently hope, a just resolution that helps the survivors bring some closure to this horrific chapter in their lives. Michigan State, too, needs to heal and to emerge a stronger institution, one where safety, respect, and civility are hallmarks.

That is not a new expectation. The University Policy on Relationship Violence & Sexual Misconduct states from the outset: “Michigan State University is committed to maintaining a learning and working environment for all students, faculty, and staff that is fair, humane, and responsible—an environment that supports career and educational advancement on the basis of job and academic performance…. Relationship violence, stalking, and sexual misconduct are not tolerated at Michigan State University.”

It is a privilege to call ourselves Spartans, one that carries a responsibility to adhere to standards of behavior, on campus and off, that should be well understood by all.

We know from Title IX reports that a large proportion of our sexual assaults happen on campus, that all too often those involved are familiar with each other, and that alcohol consumption is often involved. We can do better with our campus relationship climate, and I’ll continue reaching out to people and groups in the days ahead for advice and suggestions that can move us toward the kind of campus we all want to be associated with.

Finally, I viewed with great concern a recent ESPN report that gathered considerable national attention in no small part because it showed a promotional graphic of our head football and men’s basketball coaches with Larry Nassar. This was a sensationalized package of reporting that contained allegations and insinuations that we are now reviewing. The coaches were asked to refrain from comment while the reports were examined. That has been a burden that must be lifted. I hope that MSU can soon respond in full and affirm the integrity and probity that has been the hallmark of these two respected coaches.

It isn’t easy to live under a microscope. I’m proud of how so many members of the Spartan community have expressed concern for the survivors in so many ways. I’m pleased—but frankly not surprised—by the willingness of so many to commence the hard work of making real change in order to achieve an environment that truly is fair, humane, and responsible. To that I would add safe and civil.

I’m fully aware that there is a lot of work to do and not much time to do it. I appreciate your support as we together address the urgent tasks in front of us. Because this is how Spartans show their will.

I don't understand how MSU fans can rationalize that ESPN has targeted them and is treating them unfairly. If ESPN wanted to conduct a hit job just to boost ratings wouldn't they choose a school that people have heard of or know who their coaches are?

While I'm not arguing the ESPN targeting or not claims, to be fair, their coaches are pretty high profile. In particular, Izzo's career track record of 7 final 4's a couple national title game appearances with a win is something almost every school in the country not named Duke, UNC, Kansas or Kentucky would envy.

Engler's statement was posted on Twitter last night by none other than (wait for it) Scott Paterno. He said he wished Penn State had had Engler as President when the PSU "incident" occured. I couldn't believe my eyes, and neither could anyone else. It blew up into a Twitter war to which Paterno responded to many until he was totally overwhelmed. His biggest complaint against the venom he was getting? You must be UM fans. What a clueless asshat.

Of course it is ESPNs fault for sensationalizing (read reporting) on a cultural collapse that is found throughout a program with coaches who have supported a culture of violence against women by coaches and players...from the gymnastics, football and basketball programs.

God forbid they stop and consider that this inbred lack of oversight and care and concern should have anyone outside of the prosecutors who have been hired into their Title IX program office to shine a light and openly discuss the obvious issues that have been rumoured and understood for years within the state.

Now that they are national news, it is sensational....hypocritical BS statement that really amounts to the fact that we want to move all of these lawsuits to mediation to settle at the lowest cost possible to the school and protect the hell out of a football and basketball program that are the pinnacle of success in east lansing.

From what I have heard, MSU has spent the better part of the last few years blocking ESPN's FOIA request, looking into the football and basketball programs handeling of sexual assult. They have spent the last two years in court. If MSU did what they are supposed to do under the FOIA, the information about Mark and Tom may have been released much sooner than the Nassar disgrace.

ESPN started looking into Izzo and Dantonio and the elements of that story back around 2014 I think -- maybe even earlier. FAR before Nassar was even a story (the IndyStar story came out in the summer of 2016 during the middle of the Olympics). But MSU sued and delayed and sued and delayed again. The lawsuits weren't resolved until around this September, and even then MSU still had to turn over the documents and ESPN still had to finish their reporting and conduct interviews and followup interviews. Just editting the video for a story like that (not to mention the written story) is typically a multi-week process, and potentially even longer for a bombshell story like that.

By then, the Nassar story was in full swing which changed the scope of the original story from "MSU covers up football and basketball rapes" to "MSU covers up every damn thing under the sun."

So Sparty can bitch all they want that ESPN tied the Dantonio/Izzo parts of the story to the Nassar story, but by the time ESPN was actually allowed to finish their reporting, the two stories were tied together.

I'll admit i didn't read the whole thing but it didn't seem like she was defending sparty. She literally says the universities make sure that no charges are brought unless there is too much working against them.That people in the athletic department would do everything in their power to make sure nothing got out. They even needed to add a footnote that the Law Enforcement in EL had redacted much of the information so they have no clue how high the number of athletes accused of crimes is.

She did say that almsot all of the students are afforded legal counsel but that's not to say the athletic department wasn't influencing the cases involving athletes.

Few things that should be clarified here. I'm fairly certain I've heard / read the following:

1) MSU was not targeted by ESPN. ESPN has been FOIA-ing multiple schools for several years in an effort to get more data on these types of issues. It just so happens that MSU turned out to have a lot of issues when they started digging

2) The final story may have been timed up with Nassar in the end, but by most accounts it would have been released a long time ago if MSU had been forthcoming with the documents initially and hadn't slowed the process by stonewalling and (I think) suing ESPN over the documents request

What I find interesting is how so many have said that ESPN sat on this story for the longest time waiting for an opportunity to hammer MSU with maximum impact (and eyeballs on screens).

However, I've been hearing for well over a year on NPR and other news outlets how ESPN has had to take significant legal action against MSU to provide the information requested in the FOIA requests. If ESPN sat on this story, it was not that much time. And if the story coincides with MSUs egregious mishandling of the Larry Nassar incident, then so be it.

The past few weeks the atmosphere has shifted from disbelief regarding what Nassar did to anger over the firing of the President and AD. Engler is apparently most concerned with placating donors at this juncture.

...and saves them from any action concerning the Board of Trustees. The Board has been saying all along that there is nothing to see here, folks. Now they can say Engler's statement has vindicated them.

they have to check if Allswede's claims are supported by documention, and if so, it's damage control time, and if not, oh hey, we're innocent! That woman is making false claims! We are the victims of a hit piece! We run a high integrity institution...oh wait. Well, forget that last statement. But our football and basketball coaches are great guys!

Oh, no mention of that conflict of interest in that little statement? I'll be curious to see what happens when the faculty senate conducts their vote of no confidence. Until then, I expect more of these nothing burger statements from that school.

Sounds a little whiney about the immense number of information requests and such that MSU has to respond to. Yeah no shit, let something as disturbing as he Nassar scandal go on for decades and that'll happen to you.

Also I too look forward to whether MSU's internal investigation into Izzo & Dantonio will "affirm the integrity and probity that has been a hallmark of these two reqpected coaches." I don't have much faith given MSU's history of "internal investigations." Wonder how MSU will try to deny/defend Dantonio's history of having players connected to criminal behavior that went unpunished.

All these unfortunate things have happened to them and continue to happen. This is the exact mentality of a guilty-as-hell prisoner who spends the rest of his life insisting on his innocence.

No, bad things happened because you institutionally fucked up for years, in large part to protect your precious Mork and Ewok. And to hell with the multiple poor young women who were assaulted/raped by your roid-raging "student athletes."

To be fair, it's not about protecting Mork and Ewok... It's about protecting the brand, that's why they did nothing to Nassar who had no connection to those two. So they will protect those two in order to protect the brand. Once it is in the best interest of the brand to oust them, they'll go. A la ex-pres / ad.

that's the whole point/problem. The University's admissions and donations and support is (perceived or in reality) so closely tied to and dependent upon the brand that Izzo and Dantonio have created and the success that they've had.

That's why Nassar was protected, absolutely, and it would be doubly damaging for something to happen to Izzo and Dantonio because the brand would be hit and the creators of the brand. They're fine letting the prez and the AD take the fall as long as the coaches that make the brand are protected.

Absolutely correct. Not many really give a shit about Lou Simmons. Izzo and Dantonio are the feirce protectors who have vanquished the real devil that's always haunted the Spartan psyche--the inferiority complex.

I actually thought it was a decent letter... until the paragraph that apparently exonerates Izzo and D'Antonio. Up to that point, I thought it was about all you could expect from an interim president taking over in a crisis.* It addressed the important points (document production, compliance with various investigations, what they've learned from Title IX reports, etc.). It's not like legal counsel would allow him to say much more... but that last part undoes anything reasonable said above, IMO.

When Disrespekt goes too far. The "chip on the shoulder" mentality has fueled some great teams in football and basketball, but it has reached the tipping point.

It has now spread to the entire university and fan base and they go into instant defense mode. ESPN is out to get them, the legal system is out to get them, they think they are victims here too. The "us against the world" mentality has consumed them and they are now blinded. They can't fix that until they bring in outside leadership for a culture change.

"I hope that MSU can soon respond in full and affirm the integrity and probity that has been the hallmark of these two respected coaches."

Last week alone, we turned over data equivalent to some 45,000 pages of documents, emails, and other materials to William Forsyth, the independent special counsel who is heading the investigation for the Attorney General’s Office.

No comment on #1 - it speaks for itself.

Comment on #2: Okay, last week was good. But, what about the last 20 years where you obstructed justice at every turn?

While this is true, the unfortunate reality is that the AG did absolutely nothing until MSU 'asked' for an investigation into thier (MSU's) handling of the situation. This is different from MSU asking for an investigation into what, why, and how it happened, BTW...

I don't think that's necessarily true. I seem to recall that the AG was waiting until after the first week of victim statements. This let MSU take the premptive strike of "we're inviting the AG to investigate."

Tells me apparently Truscott Rossman (the firm Engler hired to help do strategic communications) leader John Truscott is doing an interview with Mike DeCourcy of TSN/BTN where he's ready to just debase all of the ESPN investigation. What I don't understand is this just leads to more he said/she said but now it's just ESPN's word vs MSU's word. I don't know when or if the facts will come out about this but if it's one thing we are certain of, Dantonio and Izzo are untouchable within their own school. It would take something cataclysmic to break for either of them to be removed by someone other than themselves.

until they couldn't anymore. Why make that claim at the same time you're telling them not to say anything because you aren't sure of the full facts?

And even if Izzo and Mork did follow procedure in terms of investigations, there is still a serious moral issue of not holding these players accountable for things they knew to have happened, which likely enabled further bad behavior. It's a slap in the face to all the victims to claim that their lack of discipline for purely selfish reasons - simply to win sports games and protect their legacies and the schools brand - amounts to "intergrity and probity."

It's fair to say there are some claims/insinuations in the OTL report that have reasonably been questioned. MSU is going to have to tread a fine line here, but it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds in relation to Izzo/Dantonio. Have to think Engler would feel good about the two coaches and their previous actions to put out a statement like that.

they've certainly got an army of attorneys in there. You know they reveiwed all 45,000 pages before handing them over. Guy makes a good point that he probably wouldn't have made such a strong statement without an idea of whether there is a way anyone could prove or disprove Allswede's allegations.

It's unlikely there would have been documentation of Izzo or Dantonio's involvement in any investigations so without someone else coming forward to corroborate Allswede's claims, probably impossible to prove everything.

Engler is circling the wagons hoping no one cracks, but good bet at this point there isn't any damning evidence for them.

Notice how he tries to insinuate Why the espn piece got so much attention? - “because it showed a promotional graphic of our head football and men’s basketball coaches with Larry Nassar.”

That headline got national attention because it highlighted a possible sexual harassment culture at your institution which involves your two most beloved coaches and multiple sketchy practices in handling specific allegations. Not simply because it was a “promotional graphic" of MSU's coaches and Nassar. Unbelievable how he just tried to reduce the severity and change the narrative.

Yep. Neither guy is going anywhere. I am curious if the NCAA is just investigating Nassar or looking into the athletic department as a whole? Even if the NCAA investigates the whole athletic department they are too incompetent to actually find anything. Now if this was Michigan the NCAA would magically become good at their jobs.

No... if this was Michigan. Michigan has a bigger brand than just the sports teams and it would self report to protect the integrity of the broader institution. The NCAA wouldn't need to do their job because the University would.

That's what is wrong with the NCAA. Withhold everything and stonewall them and you'll be just fine. Go belly up and you are in for it.

I don't give a shit how inconvenient all the investigations and FOIA requests are. You know what's REALLY inconvenient? Being raped as a child.

The wisest approach here would be to say, "We are throwing open the doors and being as transparent as the law will allow. We will not stop investigating until we have uncovered every bad actor, every person who covered up the truth, and every person who significantly contributed to a culture of molestation, harrasment and assault, no matter how highly placed or beloved. This is the price we must pay for the actions of those we employed, and we accept that price."

No neg here, but you have to understand the seriousness of the Walton issues, the lack of punishment or acknowledgment of those assaults, and then the reported rape by two recruits who continued to play all throughout the acitve investigation.

It's not that he's worse than Dantonio, it's that they all took the stance of ignoring assault accusations so that you can win games and relying on a justice department that had your back in all things.

assaulting a woman in a bar was plead down to littering. The allegation was assault, and he was kept on staff, i.e. ignored, while it was being investigated. That's a very rare move to not indefinitely suspend someone in that position. But it was done to keep it hush, hush while they got it taken care of.

Walton's attorney simply came to the DA and said he had conflicting accounts from witnesses which of course he could find some Spartan slappy's or friends of Walton's to take the side of a former bball player.

And because the DA's office was clearly compromised when it came to favoring the MSU AD, they plead down the charges happily.

What is the relevance of your post? I believe a similar example would be another coach, Gary Moeller, who resigned over a similar type of infraction. The issue isn't about what the court system did or didn't do. The issue is about how MSU has refused to demand or enforce any type of civil behavior from its coaches and athletes towards women.

Are you seriously suggesting that if a coach punched a woman in a bar for not wanting to talk to him that you would think he should continue coaching if he could plea it down? Because that is what you are saying.

Other examples are in the OTL report. I encourage you to watch the police interview with Adreian Payne and note that they never missed a game that season.

Actual facts? Are you saying he did not plead down? What actual fact am I ignoring? Did you watch the Payne interview with police?

The fact is the actual source suggested that Walton be prosecuted. "I had actually taken the accusing witness’s statement seriously in the initial report and recommended the charges of Assault & Battery against Walton, which were then initiated. If I had wanted to “cover-up” an issue - why would I have recommended/initiated charges in the first place?"

Why do you think the source would say that if Walton hadn't punched a woman in the face?

I'm guessing in either case you aren't reading the facts, but trying to fit a predetermined narrative.

If the ESPN report is accurate...Izzo and Hollis both knew that a member of his coaching staff and two players were accused of gang raping a girl and neither reported it to Title IX. It is illegal for both of the men in these positions to not report it to Title IX.

ESPN said that they asked MSU about this incident and MSU allegedly gave a response that they have high standards that they don't always live up to, which is a non-answer leaning towards they didn't report it.

This is the portion of this email that was totally unnecessary and will come back to haunt Engler and MSU:

"We know from Title IX reports that a large proportion of our sexual assaults happen on campus, that all too often those involved are familiar with each other, and that alcohol consumption is often involved."

Even if this is true, this is not the time or the place to insert this little factoid. It sounds like "wink,wink", we all know what really goes on here. It's not really sexual assault. Too much to drink, people that know each other, etc. etc.

This will be pounced upon big time. It was totally unnecessary and superfluous to what is happening right now and shows the real mentality of Big John and the MSU "leaders."

I was called a troll for saying it, nothing will come of this for Izzo or Dantonio. The ESPN piece was full of innuendo and hearsay, but not much in the way of facts. MSU is garbage, I hate them, but ESPN is trash and their piece was garbage.

I want the truth to come out, and to the degree that Dantonio and or Izzo is guilty of suppressing evidence and protecting sexual harrassment, they should be punished.

However, I am willing to let the process work, and to give Engler at least some benefit of the doubt. He is a politician, so I am not surprised he is being political.

In my general (but limited) experience, you often see the extremes in something like this. On the one extreme, no one is guilty, MSU is persecuted and besmirched. On the other extreme, everyone is tainted, many are guilty, and MSU should be burned to the ground. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

As a Michigan fan, I hate MSU, and very much want Michigan to always win. However, I am not close enough to the situation to assign blame and coverups to both Dantonio and Izzo.

Lastly, I again want to see Michigan use this opportunity to have it's own house in order. I don't want to see something like this horrific tragedy ever happen in Ann Arbor.

It is a privilege to name yourself after an ancient group of people that downplayed academics, had more slaves than citizens that were murdered to prove manhood, and would rape the women when sacking a town?

...okay, Engler and Spartan Nation, please take a lot of pride in that name today.

Wolverines are mustelids, the same family of carnivorous mammals that badgers and otters belong to. Badgers, wolverines, and otters are all delightful, mighty, tenacious, and ferocious. Our mascot embodies many admirable qualities.

Izzo was in tears after the Purdue game. Is it because he knows he is dirty, guilty, and this will be his last season? or is he really sympathetic for the victims? I think we all know the answer to that.

My initial reaction was, “Okay, so far, so good.” Then he hit on the ESPN piece, and all but called the story at hit job about which he would go the extra mile to refute the allegations. I have completely lost any hope that anyone associated with the leadership at MSU is even remotely capable of doing the right thing.

an article on the front page of ESPN about the letter. "We stand by our reporting."-ESPN

The lack of awareness is pretty insane. They only care about protecting their prized coaches instead of fixing the trash culture.

Keep in mind the unknown unknowns. Considering that many sexual assaults are not reported, and that victims were regulary coerced into not pressing charges, makes the number of 16 sexual assaults a probable underestimate. This is why "inoccent until proven guilty" in this context doesn't make sense with already such a large number. You don't need 16 convictions to question MSU's coverup culture.

Last week alone, we turned over data equivalent to some 45,000 pages of documents, emails, and other materials to William Forsyth, the independent special counsel who is heading the investigation for the Attorney General’s Office.

That takes about one hour for one person, unless you are trying to comb through it first to make sure you don't give him anything incriminating....

That he gives it as an example of a whole lot of work they are doing makes me think MSU is back to the same old deflect and hide strategy.

In the end, MSU partisan sports fans will buy whatever explanations are offered for why the two guys in charge weren't responsible. And the rest of the world won't buy them for a second. But the school will have proven where it's core values are in not cutting bait in the first place.

It's reckless for MSU to defend the OTL cases like this because they will necessarily smear victims. Not to mention the unaccounted for unreported victims which are likely out there who will fight back against the school.

I think the University will look back in 5 or 10 years and wished it would have honored both guys, paid their buyouts, and immediately admitted mistakes were made which are not acceptable.

It's very poorly conceived and short term thinking to dig in like this over two sports coaches who aren't going to reclaim their images outside of the MSU community.

As expected, more of the same. Probably a slight upgrade from Simon just because he likely won't appear at a courthouse and talk down to the victims, but other than that, I see no change or improvement. As expected.

The D'Antonio-Izzo paragraph strikes me as amateur-hour, but obviously isn't given Engler's professional track record. I just can't believe - or stomach - how even the MSU faithful can see that paragraph as anything but a reactionary, willfully ignorant rejection of facts in favor of an old boys network and athletic success. But apparently they do, and apparently such a defense works, as we've seen such blatant, almost belligerent stonewalling succeed at other places. Sigh.

I enjoy the site and the energetic and informative posts from its contributors and commenters. I hope that my occasionalcomments add a perspective that is helpful, no matter how small a contribution.

I am failing to see how your comments in this thread add anything other then a contentious attitude. They have not yet informed me of anything I didn't know or added a perspective other than trollilng.

Please don't respond with, "See, anything that isn't totally 100% pro-UM gets negged to oblivion". I often upvote and appreciate the insights of pessimists or those with a different view, so long as they add information or a new perspective. You have failed to do so.

To be honest, I don't really track that stuff very much--I focus more on UM and what it's doing.

If you want to start a list, I'd look at the OTL report, start with the 2 reported gang rapes, 16 assaults, Dantonio picking up an athlete from jail on the way to a game, and scan the recent posts. There is probably some stuff in Ace's football preview where he discusses MSU's off-field issues the last couple years as well.

I think I did add some valuable information. I pointed out that providing the names of innocent people damaged reputations, that ESPN already concluded in 2015 that athletes did not get preferential treatment from law enforcement, and that littering was a very common plea deal for cases. I did not see any of these things, which are very important facts that directly negate the OTL story, mentioned elsewhere in this thread or anywhere I have seen on this blog. So maybe the problem you have is that the information didn't fit your party line.
I think it is good to have your own viewpoints challenged which is the main reason I am here. I think the OTL report was nothing but sensationalized garbage (which is the subject of this thread). And no one has proven me wrong or even offered a single shred of evidence to the contrary.
Now I can see my last post was a bit of a troll, but I thought it was funny not to mention I think very accurate. I mean, isn't that what it all comes down to - winning football and basketball games? I have not seen anything much to the contrary. So why don't you up your game and provide some actual substance.

The moves against the dismissed dean of the COM and other COM faculty, including at least one department chair, are preludes to throwing the COM under the bus in an attempt to staunch the hemorrhaging. MSU has an MD school and DVM school so crippling the DO school won't be that painful. If they cut off the DO school and say the home of the high-profile predator has been cleaned up, then they reduce the risk of the athletics department's sins being brought to light (because the light will be shining on the DO school).

WHOA. I read this to effectively mean the DO school is no longer autonomous, and will now report to the boss of the College of Human Medicine - now known as the College of Medicine. That division between their DO and MD schools dates back to 1969. In academia, this is a major reorganization.